


darkness, darkness everywhere

by avosettas



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Ambiguous Relationships, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreamtale Nightmare Sans (Undertale), Empath, Gen, Minor Character(s), Reader-Insert, i wrote this for me but yall can read it lol, namely the other Bad Guys cos they slap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27713504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avosettas/pseuds/avosettas
Summary: The whole house - the whole universe, really, it wasn’t big - was constantly covered in a mask of negativity. When you’d first arrived in the stagnant universe, in pain and heavily injured, you’d barely noticed.But now your skills had improved, and someone in the house was upset.
Relationships: Sans (Undertale) & Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	darkness, darkness everywhere

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiii lol *toots party popper* 
> 
> ok anyway. uhhh notes. reader is an empath and i refuse to make the bad sanses assholes theyre just Dudes in bad situations imo
> 
> nightmare by jokublog  
> cross by jakei95  
> horrortale by sour apple studios (see end notes tho)  
> killer by rahafwabas  
> dust by ask-dusttale

You’re looking through the books in the study when you feel it. 

The whole house - the whole universe, really, it wasn’t big - was constantly covered in a mask of negativity. When you’d first arrived in the stagnant universe, in pain and heavily injured, you’d barely noticed. 

It was a constant, though. Even as you healed and, by extension, your skills as an empath grew and improved, there was always an underlying negativity in the little universe, caused, of course, by one of its other five residents. 

Nightmare was strange - not quite a monster, but definitely unlike anything else you’d ever seen. His magic was always exuding negativity, even if it wasn’t what he was feeling at the moment, and in your early days as a member of his little group, it had masked every other emotion that anyone else in the big house felt. 

But now your skills had improved, and someone in the house was upset. 

You close the book you’d had open and push it back into the shelf. Then, you step out into the hallway and start searching. 

Axe is gone, visiting his brother in the Omega Timeline, which kicks him out of the running. He was generally pretty good about looking for help, anyway; he’d fallen asleep on you during a depressive episode quite a few times.

Cross could be it, but when you poke your head into the kitchen, there he is, cutting vegetables. He glances up when he hears you, quiet though you are in your sock feet. 

“hi,” he says with a wave. “what’s up?” 

“Looking for something,” you reply. This close, you can feel the calm in Cross’s soul - abnormal for him, sure, since he was generally anxious, but plenty welcome. 

“ah, good luck.” You nod and keep going to the living room.

Killer and Dust are lazing on the couch, not unlike sleepy cats. “Forged in Fire” is on the television. 

“What’re they making?” You ask, leaning on the couch. It’s hard to get a read on either of them, because of their pasts, which you suppose means that this new wave of negative emotions isn’t from either of them, either. 

“...some kinda kitchen knife, i think,” Killer says, leaning back to look at you. His eyes are dark, but you can tell they’re focused. 

“that’s the shittiest knife i’ve ever seen,” Dust says grumpily, still paying attention to the show. Killer looks back at the television, and it’s obvious you’ve lost both of their attention. 

But they’re fine, if a little grumpy because of the bad craftsmanship on the show. Which leaves only Nightmare to find. 

You have to push a little to find him, but through the headache that comes with that, you figure out he isn’t in the house. Killer and Dust don’t spare you a glance as you push the front door open and step out. 

The universe is in a constant state of night, and it has been for centuries. There are few stars, but the sky is mostly covered in clouds, and the moon, today a crescent, has a faint orange tint to it, like a perpetual harvest moon. 

It makes maintaining a normal circadian rhythm tough, but even now the novelty of it hasn’t worn off after all this time, and you pause in your search to stare at the sky for a moment.

Then, you continue your search, meandering through the tall grass and weeds, until you come to the remnants of the one tree that originally belonged to this universe. 

In hindsight, you suppose it would be obvious that Nightmare would be here. 

The stump of the apple tree is dark and relatively healthy looking on one side, save for the fact that it is, in fact, a stump. The other side is the pale, clean gray of a museum statue, although moss is beginning to creep up on it where the roots meet the dry soil. 

On top of the stump sits Nightmare, knees drawn into himself with his face buried in his elbows. Behind him, his tentacles twitch and flail, and you wonder idly if this was one of the times where he had little control of them. 

“Go away.” 

“Oh, shush,” you step a little closer. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing.” 

“I might believe that if you weren’t out here moping,” you point out. “ _And_ if I hadn’t already checked with everyone else.” 

Nightmare sighs heavily, and his tentacles droop. “Just thinking.” He raises his head and rests his chin on his arms. “I suppose you’ve been running around causing trouble.” 

“If you want to call searching for whoever’s sad so I can mother-hen the hell out of them ‘causing trouble’, then sure, I’ve been causing trouble.” You sit down next to him on the stump, small though it is. Pressed so close to him, with the left side of your body touching the right side of his, the chill that permeates his entire being is noticeable. It’s especially bad on your hip and shoulder, where his not-especially-soft bones press into yours. 

“I don’t mind if you don’t wanna talk,” you continue, “but, y’know, if you want a hug or something -” 

You’re cut off by the wind nearly getting knocked out of you, both because of the sudden freezing guardian clinging to you, and the force of his hug. His tentacles catch you, though, and you shift back onto the stump. “Sorry,” he grunts. 

“‘S fine,” you reply, smoothing through the oily goo on his skull. “Happy to help, you know me.” 

Your body adjusts to the chill, eventually, especially because compared to the temperature outside, Nightmare is still slightly warmer. He relaxes as you pass your hands repeatedly over his head and the back of his neck, but eventually you move closer to his back. 

“This okay?” You ask, trying to maneuver around the base of his tentacles. 

“Yes.” He's slumped over your lap now, arms wrapped around your waist. Eventually, you pay less attention to where the tentacles meet his back and simply sort of... pet him, rubbing around the base of the extra appendages more often than not.

And then, he starts purring.

You’re used to purring - Axe does it often, and it sounds like a lawnmower - but this is different. Nightmare’s purr is soft and rough, and it sounds almost like a growl. But you’ve seen him angry, and it’s different. 

Not to mention you can feel the vibration of his chest against your lap. 

“...This is really nice for you, huh?” You ask it quietly, trying to avoid embarrassing him. 

“...Yes.” Then, “I was alone for centuries. It’s… nice to know that there are still people who… don’t mind me.” 

“Saved my life, didn’t you?” You snort, rubbing your thumb over his shoulder. 

“None of you had to stay.” 

“Yeah, well. Now you’re stuck with us, like it or not.” You grin when he looks up. It’s hard to read his face - maybe it’s the one eye, or simply the species difference. 

But he smiles back, and then pushes himself off of you with a pained grunt. “Come on, you’re going to turn blue out here.” 

“Alright, alright. But you do me a favor.” 

“Anything,” Nightmare replies, and you know he means it. All of you know he’d do anything for your little group, your motley family. 

“Stop hiding and moping when you’re sad!” You order, pointing at him. “And also…” 

Nightmare raises a browbone, and you grin sheepishly from where you’re still sitting on the stump. 

“My feet are asleep…” 

“You are very, very lucky that I like you,” Nightmare sighs, leaning down to pick you up in a one-shouldered fireman’s carry. 

Behind his back, you grin, because despite his annoying, negative aura, you can feel how content his soul is now.

**Author's Note:**

> right ok end notes. 
> 
> \- they live in the old dreamtale universe but its kinda crappy  
> \- if you've read my other fics you'll know i usually call my horrortale bros slate and noodle. that's because i got TWO SETS of horrortale bros. slate and noodle, and axe and sycamore. slate and noodle are based on popatochisssp's versions, axe and sycamore are based on the original SAS versions. 
> 
> ok my tumblr is @asriells if u wanna talk hcs otherwise byeeee


End file.
